French onion soup has always been one of my favorite soups — I just love the way the onions are sauteed into rich, velvety smoothness that captures all of the best aspects of onion flavor and dispenses with any suggestion of harshness (a.k.a. the dreaded “onion breath” effect). The only bad thing about French onion [...]
Muffins are the perfect breakfast, especially when made with whole-grain flours, oats, and plenty of eggs. Toss in some crème fraîche and some apples, and you’ll have a delicious reason to get up! But the best part about these muffins — aside from the taste, of course — is that they’re so satisfying that they [...]
If you’ve ever been to one of my culinary/health talks or have spent much time hanging out in my online kitchen, you know I’m forever singing the praises of plain whole-milk Greek yogurt. Why? For many reasons. It has one-quarter the sugar of low-fat flavored yogurt, for one thing. The ingredient list on Fage plain [...]
Continue reading about DIY Cream Cheese Makes the Freshest Cheesecakes!
It’s a banner day, folks! Not only is my stubborn cold finally gone, this is my 1,000th post. (Too bad 10 a.m. doesn’t seem like an appropriate time to bust open a bottle of bubbly!) To celebrate, I thought I’d share a tasty pizza recipe that was the happy result of looking in my fridge [...]
Most people like brownies better than blondies — after all, brownies have a chocolate base and blondies don’t. But what about blondies spiked with two kinds of chocolate? Even better, what if the blondie batter is made with almond butter? (Or any nut butter, for that matter.) Then you’ve got a nutty blondie base that’s [...]
Too often, breakfast is either overlooked or sugared out. By “sugared out,” I’m referring to our dependence on the holy trinity of American breakfasts: cereal (some cereals are almost 40% sugar by weight), orange juice (which is pretty much straight sugar), and/or white toast with jam (again, almost all sugar). In Europe, on the other [...]
Not too many fruits come into full bloom during the winter months, but members of the citrus family do. And the least-known (but possibly the most delicious and definitely the cutest!) member of the citrus family can only be found during the winter months. Enter kumquats! They’re tiny, oval-shaped orange citrus fruits that are curiously [...]
Continue reading about On the Scrabble Board or in Muffins, Kumquats Are Fun!
When I’m on an ingredient roll, I like to use it every which way I can. That’s why last week I wrote about mesquite-dusted popcorn and this week I’m writing about mesquite-infused banana bread. The caramel aspect of the mesquite combined with the natural sweetness of the bananas means that you only need 1/4 cup [...]
Since so many people are trying to cut down on sugar nowadays (great idea!), I’ve been playing with stevia lately. Not the “raw” white powder — which I’m not a fan of since it’s more than 50% dextrose/cheap corn sugar by weight — but stevia in its more natural forms, from fresh leaves to dried [...]
Anti-inflammatory omega-3 fats are all the rage, and rightly so — we could all benefit from less inflammation in our lives. Especially those of us who have any condition ending with -itis: arthritis, colitis, diverticulitis, bursitis, etc. That four-letter “itis” ending means “inflammation.” Experts agree that eating anti-inflammatory foods is one of the best ways [...]
